96 Vol 2. pt. 33 Patch 6.0: The Second Round (1/2)
”How strong do you think those summoned serpents are?” Fenrir asks Oleander.
”Not sure, but I know that we have to deal with them. They're making that ship way faster, and they'll probably be able to turn way better than us. We're in trouble if we don't do something about them,” Oleander answers as he spins the wheel of The Shoebill. Another stream of freezing water shoots past the ship's starboard side. ”We're supposed to circle back, grapple them, and stop them while everybody else catches up. Right now, we're both just going farther and farther away from our help.”
”Think we could cross them quickly enough to get some shots off?”
”No, they'll probably be able to avoid it, and the serpents are too low in the water to hit them.”
”I'm starting to regret just fishing all the time and never leveling up any combat skills.”
”I might be able to do something if you take the wheel,” Oleander says and looks at Fenrir.
Fenrir nods and takes the wheel from him.
Oleander reaches into the satchel hanging from his side and pulls out two large thorns from it. The thorns float in the air upon him starting his spell. Each one floats to his sides and grows larger and sharper as Oleander pours his Mana into the spell.
The thorns have grown to the size of ballista bolts when Fenrir looks back at what Oleander is doing.
”You really have been practicing,” Fenrir says.
”Of course I have been. What, did you think I wasn't doing anything during all those times where you just wanted to fish? I'm not grumpy like Bone where he just mopes around and waits for somebody to want to do something fun,” Oleander answers.
Oleander raises his right arm, causing the thorn to his right to raise higher into the air, and then swings it forward! The right thorn soars through the air and slams right into the side of one of the serpents!
The serpent lets out its death cry just seconds before disappearing as if it were never there in the first place. Oleander raises his left arm now, going two for two, but one of the longship's crewmembers throws a javelin that Oleander has to dodge out of the way of mid-swing. This results in the thorn going tall and slamming through their leafy sails rather than through the second serpent.
”Sorry, Fenny,” Oleander says, sounding more angry than apologetic.
”It's alright, you got one of them. That was awesome, by the way. Can you do that some more?” Fenrir asks.
”I have more thorns, but I'm—” Oleander stumbles, almost falling over the ship's aft, ”Yeah, I'm out of Mana, sorry.”
”That's alright. Just take it easy and I'll handle the steering.”
”No, I can still steer.”
”You sure?”
”Have I ever been wrong before?”
Fenrir thinks about it. As far as he can remember, over the many years of knowing one another, he cannot remember a single time where Oleander was wrong about anything no matter what subject. Fenrir steps away from the wheel to help Oleander over to it. ”I'm counting on you to keep us in one piece then,” Fenrir says and pats Oleander's head.
With Oleander back at the wheel, Fenrir heads below deck to check on the situation.
Some wooden planks have been nailed over a hole in the hull near the ship's stern, but there is still some water seeping in from underneath the planks. The sputtering of the engine doesn't sound too healthy either.
”What's the situation?” Fenrir asks.
”My baby is goin' to die again if ya don't ease up on her. She's not meant to be goin' full speed for this long. The hole won't be too much of a problem as long as we don't—” Tabitha's answer is cut off when a stream of water shoots through the ship's stern again, but this time, it cuts sideways through the hull to leave a giant gash in the side of the ship longer than Fenrir is tall.
Water starts pouring in as The Shoebill creaks from the damage. ”Greenie, board it up! Blondie One, Two, and Wolf, grab some buckets and start scooping the water up!” Tabitha shouts.
Everybody gets to work doing exactly as Tabitha ordered. Bonekraka lifts some spare planks up to press them against the latest wound in The Shoebill, and Tabitha hammers nails into them to keep them in place. Meanwhile, Fenrir, Cassiel, and Corwin hastily run up and down between decks to scoop up water and then toss it overboard.
”Get ready!” Oleander shouts. ”It's about to attack again!”
Everybody below deck gets low on the floorboards in case another jet of water decides to sweep through the hull. The last thing any of them want is to get cut in half by water and frozen.
”It's gone!” Oleander shouts.
Fenrir rushes above deck to see what's happened. When he looks at the longship, the remaining serpent is no longer there. ”What happened?” he asks.
”It just disappeared. Guess it ran out of time or energy or something,” Oleander guesses.
”I'll take it. Now, we have to use this time to get on with the plan. You ready?”
”Of course!”